LOG mode is a new feature that has been added to the Pilot app for the DJI Inspire 1. We put LOG mode to the test in the immaculate serenity of Nepal’s snowy mountains.

We accessed LOG mode through the Function menu in the Pilot app and began our experiment. LOG mode includes a tool that can convert 60Mbps YUV4:2:0(8bit) H.264 compressed code into a ProRes YUV4:2:2(10bit) stream, with a higher bitrate. The ProRes stream is compatible with Adobe Premiere Pro and Apple Final Cut Pro, giving users more in post-production. LOG mode makes it easy tocapture both light and dark details with great accuracy.

Select LOG mode in the Function menu of the Pilot app before shooting.

When used properly, LOG mode can greatly improve the final quality of your videos. Using LOG mode to capture videos provides a wider dynamic range, as well as more information and greater detail. This allows for greater creative control in post-production. The following image is a screenshot from a video taken in LOG mode.

As you can see, the finer details in the dark area have been preserved in this picture. Compared with videos captured in normal mode, the footage from LOG mode tends to seem a little gray/white. The result is a somewhat dull visual effect. While this may seem disappointing at first, the gray/white coloring is what provides greater flexibility and allows you to make more color adjustments in the post-production stage.

Before making any adjustments to the LOG mode footage, we have to correct its color. The Color Correction Tool that we use, which is part of a plug-in called Magic Bullet Looks, corrects the image coloring with the press of a button. Please note that it may take some time to correct the color of a video. (My computer with an i7 processor can only correct five frames per second.)

There are four options in the Profile section of the Color Correction Tool. The main difference between them is bitrate. Arranged by bitrate, from low to high, the four options are: Proxy, LT, SD, and HQ. In most cases, Proxy (350 mbps) will be sufficient. The Color Correction Tool also provides four different gamma calibration options, including: gamma calibration curve in Inspire 1 normal mode, standard Gamma 2.2 calibration curve, standard Gamma 1.8 calibration curve, and linear with no calibration. I used gamma calibration curve in Inspire 1 normal mode.

After using the Color Correction Tool, the video color seems more natural and the finer details are preserved. We can import the video into Adobe Premiere Pro or Adobe After Effects for editing and get creative in post-production editing. (Notes: Choose .MOV as the video output format in the Color Correction Tool if you want to import the video into Adobe Premiere Pro, as .AVI is not compatible with Adobe Premiere Pro. You can use either format if you are importing the video into Adobe After Effects.)

After the video has been imported into Adobe Premiere Pro, we can adjust the color and brightness.

With a little tweaking, the color effects are vastly improved. Video created in LOG mode (with 10 bit depth) provides a lot of color adjustment flexibility in post-production. If you are a professional photographer or color adjustment expert, you can use LOG mode to unleash the full potential of the Inspire.

The advantages of LOG mode are most obvious in dynamic range footage. The footage is created using LOG mode and is converted using the Color Correction Tool. After the color is corrected, the footage seems slightly darker and the details in the dark area are more difficult to see. To correct this, we can use video editing software to adjust the brightness. Because the footage is encoded in a 10 bit format after the color correction process, the brightness can be adjusted and the details in dark area restored.

First, we shot some dynamic footage using LOG mode:

Then used a Color Correction Tool to convert it:

In this footage, the small details in the nearby mountains cannot be seen until we have used the Brightness Curve Correction Tool to edit it.

After correction, the details in the nearby mountains become visible. We are then able to adjust the color and apply different styles, as desired.

The following pictures were created in LOG mode and the Color Correction Tool was applied.

If you select a video that is just transcoded, the tool will recognize it as a normal one. The transcoder actually uses a technique called "dither" to increase the bitwidth of the normal video, and does not support to re-adjust its tone curve currently.

Ok when out and did some filming today and just got home. I just copied the files to my HD and opened the Color Correction Tool for a Mac and Still the same issue. I select the Input file and then select the output file, Then I can't open either Profile or Gamma? It did it once yesterday and hasn't been the same since. I removed it and reinstalled it but makes no difference. Some help please thanks,

On both of my edit PC's (I'm a professional camera op and editor) trying to run the transcoding tool on Windows results in the error "Error! Insufficient RAM! Please try again". Both machines are fairly high spec with lots of RAM. One has 24GB with dual 6 core CPUs and the other 6GB RAm with an i7 6 core CPU. Although I suspect the error probably doesn't actually relate to available RAM at all. Maybe something else? I've disabled AV software etc but errors still persist about 1-2 seconds into the transcode.

Source is 4K Inspire 1 25 fps footage. Output is Proxy although I've also tried the other settings.

Don't bother with DJI's transcoding tool if you're a pro. Just take the Inspire log footage into your color correction tool of choice and apply a LUT.

In the Google window type in the following (no quotation marks):

DJI Inspire log LUTS

You should find some things to get you started. Much greater flexibility and power than the DJI transcoding tool even if it worked. Keep in mind that if you find some LUTS that you like but they're too extreme, in most CC or editing software you can adjust the transparency of the effect overlaying the LUT and let some of the log footage bleed through, reducing the effect of the LUT.

Thanks Pete, my main aim was to try and find an intermediate codec for the MP4 footage in 4K that edits better in Prem Pro windows. Not having ProRes supported under windows (officially) is a right pain. I can playback 4K fine but scrubbing isn't as fluid as I'd like so a 4K I Frame codec would be good.

Autumn, Log mode will help to obtain a wider dynamic range from the sensor onto the recording. However the recording is still MP4 with a lot of compression. Converting to Prores afterwards won't really help things since the footage was already compressed in camera. We really need to record 10-bit Prores to the camera directly during flight for this to be any use.

A lot of things that will shoot in ProRes will also shoot in DNxHD (Avid), which is basically analogous. Perhaps DJI could provide support for that?

+1 for direct to ProRes shooting on the Inspire 1 though. I'd totally pay to upgrade to an I1 X3 device that shot 4k to CinemaDNG or ProRes natively. Hell, even 200Mbps+ H.264 a la the GH4 is a good start. 60Mbps @ 4k is a good rate for YouTube delivery but not so much for production capture.

You can shoot in LOG if you're an iMovie user, yes. I can't remember what iMovie's colour correction tools are like but if they're limited you can still get some LOG benefits by just shooting in LOG and using DJI's tool to convert your LOG files to ProRes, then pulling those into iMovie for editing.

Ya, all LOG seems to be is a low contrast softer option so you can expand and maybe sharpen it out in your video editor. It's not raw, or anything that I can see very useful except if you are shooting a scene with a lot of dynamic range. Granted, a good percentage of locations exceed the dynamic range of the sensor, so LOG is a reasonable choice for a lot of situations IF you are always going to make contrast and other adjustments in post. But for someone wanting a more natural look, and isn't doing any color grading, a different color mode makes sense. Or just use the custom color mode and adjust your own. LOG looks pretty bad in many situations. It's like putting a low contrast jpeg file through adobe camera raw and expecting a big quality improvements. Unless I'm missing something. I just shot some footage in Normal versus LOG and it's just a low contrast version of the same file. Maybe it's less sharpened as well.

I also don't understand LUTs. They to some extent just someone else adjusting your editor for you. Maybe some have some magic, but most of our NLEs have tools to creat most of these looks and it would seem to makes sense for people to learn how to use all the tools the NLE provides. That said, It's a pain to make grad filters in Vegas Pro 12, but mainly because I'm a Photoshop guy with much less experience with video editing. I cut an ND gel in a half circle and I'm going to try covering the opt half of the DJI lens. Darkening the sky is one way to manage too much brightness range. Also cut pola gel to size.

Lastly, there is no substitute for knowing if your shadows, highlights or both are blown out or burried. And knowing which one to sacrifice in a squeeze. If you're shooting a flat scene with LOG, you better plan on contrast and other adjustments in post.

There isn't much gain from using LOG on the Inspire X3. LOG comes into its own on higher end cameras that capture a much higher dynamic range. In those cases a lot more highlight detail can be captured. But the Inspire really doesn't gain much from using it, and it is made worse by the extremely high compression that it uses.

LUTs are useful for cameras or monitors that allow them to be installed. They mean that you can record in LOG or Raw mode on cameras that are capable, but you can view the picture and get an idea of what it will look like when it is graded without affecting the actual recording. The LUT can then be used as a basis from which to make the final grade in post. But it's relevance to the Inspire 1 is minimal.

hi DJI-Autumn
Do you have done some comparison between the log mode and h.264 in the same scenario?
I have search a lot ,but no body do it. there is only comparison log between log after color graded.
Yes , the log after color graded will get better quality than the log original, but does it better than H.264 directly without color grade?
I doubt who has the best quality.
In fact I just do some comparison but I can't think the log mode after color graded is better than H.264 direct from the camera.
Is there some offical result from DJI? which one is better.